Eye Surgical Lighting Unit

ABSTRACT

The invention relates to an eye surgical lighting unit for lighting internal ocular tissue. The lighting unit comprises a fiber having a proximal end and a distal end, for guiding a light beam to the distal end. The lighting unit also comprises a manual unit, provided with a cannula and a handle having an internal passage positioned in line with the cannula. The fiber is adjustable between an intraocular operational position in which the fiber extends through the internal passage of the handle and through the cannula, and a chandelier operational position in which the fiber is uncoupled from the manual unit.

RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application is a continuation application of U.S. application Ser. No. 14/383,694, filed Sep. 8, 2014, which is a 35 U.S.C. § 371 national phase application of PCT/NL2013/050156 (WO 2013/133717), filed on Mar. 11, 2013, which application claims priority to Netherlands Application No. 2008455, filed Mar. 9, 2012, each entitled “Eye Surgical Lighting Unit” and each of which is incorporated herein by reference in its entirety.

COPYRIGHT STATEMENT

A portion of the disclosure of this patent document contains material that is subject to copyright protection. The copyright owner has no objection to the facsimile reproduction by anyone of the patent document or the patent disclosure as it appears in the Patent and Trademark Office patent file or records, but otherwise reserves all copyright rights whatsoever.

TECHNICAL FIELD

The invention relates to an eye surgical lighting unit for lighting internal ocular tissue, comprising a fiber having a proximal end and a distal end, for guiding a light beam to the distal end, wherein the lighting unit furthermore comprises a manual unit, provided with a cannula and a handle having an internal passage positioned in line with the cannula.

Such an eye surgical lighting unit is known for performing ophthalmic operations. A light source is connected to the proximal end of the fiber, so that the light generated by the light source can propagate through the fiber and exits from the fiber via the distal end thereof. During an eye surgical procedure, the distal end of the fiber can be brought into the eye, so that the ocular tissue to be treated is effectively lighted.

BACKGROUND

In a lighting unit from the prior art, the fiber extends through the internal passage of the handle and the cannula aligned therewith. The distal end of the fiber is brought into the interior of the eye via the cannula of a trocar. By manually adjusting the position and/or orientation of the cannula in the eye, the surgeon can realize a lighting desired at that moment. The lighting that such a lighting unit generates is also referred to as intraocular lighting.

Also, from the European patent publication EP 1 844 705 a lighting unit is known without integrated manual unit. The fiber is provided with a stop displaceable along the outer covering of the fiber in order for the fiber to extend into the eye by a preset penetration depth, via a cannula of a trocar, arranged in the ocular wall. The lighting that such a lighting unit generates is also referred to as chandelier lighting to facilitate so-called bimanual surgery.

It is noted that United States patent publication US 2011/245787 describes a trocar cannula.

The present invention is directed toward overcoming one or more of the problems discussed above.

SUMMARY OF THE EMBODIMENTS

The invention contemplates providing an eye surgical lighting unit of the kind mentioned in the opening paragraph hereof, whereby the functionality is augmented. To this end, the fiber of the lighting unit according to the invention is adjustable between an intraocular operational position in which the fiber extends through the internal passage of the handle and through the cannula, and a chandelier operational position in which the fiber is uncoupled from the manual unit.

By designing the fiber to be adjustable with respect to the manual unit, the lighting unit can serve both as intraocular lighting and as chandelier lighting. If intraocular lighting is desired, the fiber can be threaded through the handle and the cannula, and the distal end of the fiber can be brought via the cannula of a trocar into the eye, so that a desired position and/or orientation of the distal fiber end can be accurately taken up through operation of the handle. If, on the other hand, a chandelier lighting is desired, the fiber can be uncoupled from the manual unit, so that the distal end of the fiber can be introduced via a cannula of a trocar, arranged in the ocular wall. Thus, the lighting unit has a dual function, viz., as intraocular lighting and as chandelier lighting.

Preferably, the proximal end is provided with a connector for connection to a light source, so that the fiber is connectable to different types of light sources. Alternatively, the proximal end of the fiber may be provided with an integrated light source.

By furthermore providing a stop which is movable along the outer surface of the fiber, the penetration depth of the fiber—in the use as chandelier lighting—can be set beforehand by the surgeon, to obtain a desired light distribution in the eye. Alternatively, the stop is fixed at a specific position along the fiber, or the fiber is designed without stop.

The lighting unit can have a fixation element to fix the fiber in the intraocular operational position in a direction along the cannula. This prevents the fiber shifting back and forth in the manual unit, or even sliding out of the manual unit at an undesired moment.

Various modifications and additions can be made to the embodiments discussed without departing from the scope of the invention. For example, while the embodiments described above refer to particular features, the scope of this invention also included embodiments having different combination of features and embodiments that do not include all of the above described features.

A further understanding of the nature and advantages of particular embodiments may be realized by reference to the remaining portions of the specification and the drawings, in which like reference numerals are used to refer to similar components. In some instances, a sub-label is associated with a reference numeral to denote one of multiple similar components. When reference is made to a reference numeral without specification to an existing sub-label, it is intended to refer to all such multiple similar components.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 shows a schematic elevational view of a lighting unit according to the invention in an intraocular operational position;

FIG. 2 shows a schematic elevational view of the lighting unit from FIG. 1 in a chandelier operational position; and

FIG. 3 shows a schematic elevational view of the lighting unit from FIG. 1 in disassembled condition.

The drawings show only a schematic representation of a preferred mode of the invention. In the Figures, like or corresponding parts are denoted with the same reference numerals.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

While various aspects and features of certain embodiments have been summarized above, the following detailed description illustrates a few embodiments in further detail to enable one of skill in the art to practice such embodiments. The described examples are provided for illustrative purposes and are not intended to limit the scope of the invention.

In the following description, for the purposes of explanation, numerous specific details are set forth in order to provide a thorough understanding of the described embodiments. It will be apparent to one skilled in the art, however, that other embodiments of the present invention may be practiced without some of these specific details. Several embodiments are described and claimed herein, and while various features are ascribed to different embodiments, it should be appreciated that the features described with respect to one embodiment may be incorporated with other embodiments as well. By the same token, however, no single feature or features of any described or claimed embodiment should be considered essential to every embodiment of the invention, as other embodiments of the invention may omit such features.

Unless otherwise indicated, all numbers used herein to express quantities, dimensions, and so forth used should be understood as being modified in all instances by the term “about.” In this application, the use of the singular includes the plural unless specifically stated otherwise, and use of the terms “and” and “or” means “and/or” unless otherwise indicated. Moreover, the use of the term “including,” as well as other forms, such as “includes” and “included,” should be considered non-exclusive. Also, terms such as “element” or “component” encompass both elements and components comprising one unit and elements and components that comprise more than one unit, unless specifically stated otherwise.

In FIG. 1 the fiber 2 is in an intraocular operational position. The fiber 2 extends through the internal passage 8 of the handle 7 and through the cannula 6. The tip 9 of the distal fiber end 4 extends slightly beyond the cannula 6, so that the light beam exiting there can light internal ocular tissue when the cannula penetrates via a trocar through the ocular wall.

The lighting unit 1 as shown in FIG. 1 is in principle ready for use as intraocular lighting.

The handle is shaped and dimensioned such that the user through operation thereof can bring the distal end 4 of the fiber 2 accurately in a desired position and/or orientation, so that a specifically desired lighting in the eye can be realized. To this end, the handle is designed such that through manual operation thereof the distal end of the fiber can be threaded through a trocar.

The proximal end 3 of the fiber is provided with a connector 10 for connection to a light source (not shown). Furthermore, the lighting unit has a stop 11 which is displaceable along the outer surface of the fiber 2, near the distal end 4. Also, the lighting unit has a fixation element 12, such as a fixation screw, to fix the fiber in the intraocular operational position in a direction R along the cannula 6.

The fiber 1 has an outer diameter size of 25 G, the cannula 6 has an outer diameter size of 23 G. Obviously, other dimensionings are also possible, for example, greater than or less than the diameter sizes mentioned.

FIG. 2 shows a schematic elevational view of the lighting unit 1 in a chandelier operational position. The fiber 2 is here uncoupled from the manual unit 5. The distal end 4 of the fiber 2 can be positioned internally in the eye via a trocar cannula, also called entry, arranged in the ocular wall. Thus a chandelier lighting can be realized, in support of bimanual surgery.

FIG. 3 shows a schematic elevational view of the lighting unit 1 in disassembled condition.

The lighting unit can be brought from the chandelier operational position to the intraocular operational position by threading the distal end 4 of the fiber 2 through the internal passage 8 of the handle 7 and through the cannula 6 of the manual unit 5. When the fiber 2 is provided with a stop 11, the stop, prior to threading in, can be moved over some distance towards the proximal end 3 of the fiber to facilitate threading in.

The lighting unit can be brought from the intraocular operational position to the chandelier operational position by withdrawing the distal end 4 of the fiber 2 from the cannula 6 and the handle 7 of the manual unit 5.

In both the intraocular operational position and the chandelier operational position, the distal end 4 of the fiber 2 of the lighting unit 1 is preferably brought into the interior of the eye via a trocar.

The invention is not limited to the exemplary embodiments described here. Many variants are possible. Thus, the outer surface of the fiber 2 may be provided with a protective top layer.

Such variants will be clear to one of ordinary skill in the art and are understood to be within the scope of the invention, as set forth in the following claims. 

what is claimed is:
 1. An eye surgical lighting unit for lighting internal ocular tissue comprising: a fiber having a proximal end and a distal end for guiding a light beam to the distal end, a manual unit provided with a cannula and a handle having an internal passage positioned in line with the cannula, wherein the fiber is adjustable between an intraocular operational position in which the fiber extends through the internal passage of the handle and through the cannula so that a desired position and/or orientation of the distal fiber end can be accurately taken up through operation of the handle, wherein, when the fiber is in the intraocular position, the lighting unit provides intraocular lighting for ophthalmic surgery, and a chandelier operational position in which the fiber is disassembled from the manual unit so that the distal end of the fiber can be introduced via a cannula of a trocar, arranged in the ocular wall, wherein, when the fiber is in the chandelier operational position, the lighting unit provides chandelier lighting for bimanual ophthalmic surgery.
 2. The eye surgical lighting unit according to claim 1, wherein the handle is designed, through manual operation thereof, to bring the distal end of the fiber in at least one of a desired position or orientation.
 3. The eye surgical lighting unit according to claim 1, wherein the proximal end is provided with a connector for connection to a light source.
 4. The eye surgical lighting unit according to claim 1, furthermore comprising a stop which is displaceable along an outer surface of the fiber near the distal end.
 5. The eye surgical lighting unit according to claim 1, furthermore comprising a fixation screw to fix the fiber in the intraocular operational position in a direction along the cannula.
 6. The eye surgical lighting unit according to claim 1, comprising a single fiber only.
 7. The eye surgical lighting unit according to claim 1, wherein the distal end of the fiber is substantially rectilinear.
 8. A kit of parts comprising: a manual unit provided with a cannula and a handle having an internal passage positioned in line with the cannula; and an eye surgical lighting unit for lighting internal ocular tissue comprising: a fiber having a proximal end and a distal end for guiding a light beam to the distal end; wherein the fiber of the eye surgical unit can be inserted through the internal passage of the handle of the manual unit and though the cannula of the manual unit, such that if the fiber is disassembled from the manual unit, the fiber is in a chandelier operational position, the lighting unit provides chandelier lighting for bimanual ophthalmic surgery; and if the fiber extends through the internal passage of the handle of the manual unit and through the cannula of the manual unit, the fiber is in an intraocular position, the lighting unit provides intraocular lighting for ophthalmic surgery. 